Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for STONE

STONE, a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Staffordshire. The town stands on the river Trent, the Grand Junction canal, and the North Staffordshire railway, at the junction of the lines from Colwich and Stafford, 7 miles NNW of Stafford; dates from very ancient times; had a canonry, founded in 670 by King Wulfhere, and made a cell in 1260 to Kenilworth; adjoins a tract on which the Duke of Cumberland drew up his army, in 1745, when pursuing Prince Charles; was the birth-place of Earl St. Vincent; is a seat of petty-sessions and a polling place; consists chiefly of one long street, with smaller diverging streets; carries on shoemaking, brewing, and transit-traffic; and has a head post-office,‡ a r. station with telegraph, commodious wharves, two banking offices, a good hotel, two churches, two dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, a free grammar-school, an endowed school with £100 a year, a mechanics' institute, a workhouse, charities £144, a weekly market on Saturday, a great market on every alternate Tuesday, and fairs on Shrove-Tuesday, the Tuesday after Mid-Lent, Whit-Tuesday, 5 Aug., and 30 Sept. Pop. in 1851, 3,443; in 1861, 4,509. Houses, 889.—The parish contains 6 townships and a part, 5 liberties, and a hamlet; and comprises 20,030 acres. Real property, £14,960; of which £80 are in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 8,736; in 1861, 9,382. Houses, 1,867. S. Park is the property of Earl Granville; and Meaford Hall, of General Forester. The head living is a rectory in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £240.* Patron, the Bishop of L. The living of Christchurch is a p. curacy, united with Tittensor chapelry. Value, £300.* Patrons, Simeon's Trustees. The parish includes also Aston and Hilderstone chapelries, and parts of Blurton, Normacot, and Formbook chapelries.—The sub-district includes all Stone parish, except Normacot township, and all Sandon and Milwich parishes. Pop., 9,528. Houses, 1,908. -The district includes also Ecclesalland Trentham districts-districts, and comprises 68,524 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £6,642. Pop. in 1851, 19,344; in 1861, 21,926. Houses, 4,456. Marriages in 1863, 164; births, 795,- of which 58 were illegitimate; deaths, 477,-of which 186 were at ages under 5 years, and 9 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,541; births, 6,353; deaths, 4,176. The places of worship, in 1851, were 25 of the Church of England, with 8,990 sittings; 2 of Independents, with 920 s.; 4 of Wesleyans, with 338 s.; 4 of New Connexion Methodists, with 520 s.; 2 of Primitive Methodists, with 55 s.; and 2 of Roman Catholics, with 440 s. The schools were 23 public day-schools, with 1,979 scholars; 40 private day-schools, with 929 s.; 25 Sunday schools, with 2,530 s.; and 4 evening schools for adults, with 49 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Stone CP/AP       Stone SubD       Stone RegD/PLU       Staffordshire AncC
Place: Stone

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.